Control valve arrangements for various inks are known, for example, as described in German Pat. No. 11 33 737. This patent discloses four liquid application devices, to apply ink to respective plates of a printing machine. Each liquid application device is associated with a plate, to be inked, of a plate cylinder which carries four printing plates next to each other. Each liquid application device has four liquid receiving lines coupled thereto, each one associated with a respective ink color. A valve or cock or faucet element is located in each one of the receiving lines.
To control four possible colors to connect with four application devices require sixteen valves or cocks. Remote operation of such valves, for example electromagnetically operated from a control panel, then requires sixteen positioning devices and controls therefor. The number of elements which must be moved is large, and such an arrangement is complex and, hence, expensive and difficult to maintain. It requires substantial space since each one of the cocks or valves must be readily accessible.